


to avoid death, marry the hangman

by nereid



Series: Fem February 2021 [1]
Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: F/F, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Murder, background Cassandra/Agamemnon, background Clytemnestra/Agamemnon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:54:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29153112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nereid/pseuds/nereid
Summary: Clytemnestra is not like Cassandra, who is a spoil of war. Cyltemnestra is a spoil of peace, or what passes as such, when men slaughter without asking for permission or forgiveness. This is also not an uncommon thing for a woman to be.
Relationships: Cassandra/Clytemnestra (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Series: Fem February 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139975
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14





	to avoid death, marry the hangman

**Author's Note:**

  * For [clytemnestras](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clytemnestras/gifts).



> For the fabulous fem february ficathon [here](https://clockwork-hart1.dreamwidth.org/53291.html) which y'all wanna come check out
> 
> for the prompt: _lover please do not fall to your knees, it's not like i believe in everlasting love_
> 
> title borrowed & paraphrased from Margaret Atwood's poem Marrying the Hangman

6\. They are in Clytemnestra's bed, always in Clytemnestra's bed, in lieu of crimes ot yet committed, Clytemnestra at least claims Cassandra away from Agamemnon's bed and for herself.

"I want to kill him," says Clytemnestra. 

"You want to kill everyone," Cassandra says; "Even me," Cassandra does not say. 

"I want to do it with an axe. It would be poetic, do you not agree?" 

Cassandra drapes an arm over Clytemnestra's naked stomach. She's seen her naked a number of times now, and it never stops feeling like a privilege. Cassandra has not prayed in years, but this almost makes her want to pray.

1\. Cassandra is a spoil of war. This is not an uncommon thing for a woman to be.

She is clean when Agamemnon presents her to his wife. She was probably not clean before, Clytemnestra muses, and thinks of Troy, in blood and burning. Agamemnon stands proud, a warrior and a king. He circles around Cassandra, while Clytemnestra sits on the throne. A cat that brings its owner a dead mouse, only that does not work, not really, because Agamemnon is both the cat and the owner, and it is Clytemnestra who is a dead mouse, has been for years. It is Cassandra who is new to this dead role, and Clytemnestra is intent to see how she adjusts.

7\. This time, and only this time, Cassandra says it. She is not even sure that she even wants to say it, or that she wants Clytemnestra to hear her.

"I've been dead for years, Clytemnestra. I don't mind that you want to kill me." 

Cassandra cannot know for sure, but she thinks she can hear Clytemnestra murmur something about dead mice ever so softly. Cassandra still is not sure what Cassandra wants. Perhaps she wouldn't believe herself even if she knew.

2\. Clytemnestra is not like Cassandra, who is a spoil of war. Cyltemnestra is a spoil of peace, or what passes as such, when men slaughter without asking for permission or forgiveness. This is also not an uncommon thing for a woman to be. 

Cassandra does not speak with her about this, or at least not in so many words. But she's heard the stories, as everyone else has, of Agamemnon slaughtering her first husband and infant with a double axe. There is a double axe over the fireplace even now. Cassandra does not know Agamemnon well, and she does not wish to know him better, but she's seen enough of his cruel smiles to know that it's the axe he killed Clytemnestra's family with. Cassandra has endured in her life, and she sees even more than she has herself endured. For all her pain, she would not choose to change fates with Clytemnestra.

5\. The first time they fuck is different than Clytemnestra thought it would be, and it surprises her. She thought she would have to seduce Cassandra slowly and meticulously. It turns out that Cassandra did not need seducing, merely someone who who was not Agamemnon, and Clytemnestra, for all her murderous intent, is not Agamemnon.

4\. Clytemnestra is beautiful.

This is something, that perhaps, is so obvious everyone would believe even if it came from Cassandra. She does not know when she first thinks it, but after the first time, it simply never goes away. She notices Clytemnestra's narrow lips and smirk and how her slipper dangles from her foot while she sits and looks out the window. She notices the cruel twist of the mouth when Clytemnestra daydreams. She wonders if Clytemnestra is already planning the murder, or if she has planned it already, or if she has realized yet that she is going to plan to murder her husband. She wonders if she'll come up with lighting the house on fire while she is gazing into the fire of the fire place. The throne sits empty. Casandra approaches Clytemnestra, wishes to put her fingers on Clytemnestra's skin, but before she can do this, Clytemnestra turns to her and stares. After a moment, the casual cruelty is gone from her face entirely. If Cassandra did not know what the future held, she might be able to convince herself that the cruelty had never been there in the first place.

3\. Cassandra is not beautiful.

Inappropriate as it might be, Clytemnestra's thoughts turn to Cassandra's appearance immediately. Clean she is, without a doubt, but hardly impressive. Long hair, yes, but dull. A thin mouth. She is not beautiful like Helen, but then, no one is. She misses Helen, sometimes more than she misses her dead child and husband. But nobody is here, except Cassandra. There is a certain something around Cassandra's eyes perhaps worth considering interesting, but still far from beautiful. A kind of knowing, perhaps, which is worse. She wonders if Agamemnon treats her better than he treats his wife. She has no doubt they are lovers, and no doubt that Agamemnon's will had everything, and Cassandra's will nothing to do with this. 

8\. It is the perfect union of two women angered. They fuck and they plot the murder of one who has angered them, and they do it while Agamemnon is pass-out drunk, and they never are pass-out drunk, because any time might be the perfect time to get rid of Agamemnon. Clytemnestra, in the privacy of her bedroom, looks neither cruel nor absent, but neither does she look kind. She looks instead, a mixture of all these, and Cassandra wonders if she is planning yet to also kill Cassandra. She has had no such vision, but visions are not infallible.

9\. It is this, then. Agamemnon is pass-out drunk, again. Cassandra orders the servants out. Clytemnestra lights the fire. Cassandra has her fingers gently pressed to the skin of Clytemnestra's shoulder. 

Everything burns, and it is beautiful.

10\. It is this, then. Clytemnestra and Cassandra, in the privacy of their new bedroom. Neither looks neither cruel nor absent, but neither do they look kind. They do not pray.


End file.
